Next to last week in Moshi for 2015

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Addicting Rangoon Creeper covers front of house

Wow, last two weeks before we leave Moshi

This week was heralded by John’s crazy trip to Seattle.  He had three days on the ground with the CFAR meeting, and 4 in the air.  Lovely really.  He is not home as I write, because his plane from Seattle to Amsterdam was fine, but the plane leaving Amsterdam was grounded due to a gas leak and it could not be fixed.  So, he will be at least four hours late.  It is of course horrible to contemplate, and even with that, he may be left in Dar Es Salaam for convenience sake. (and to keep the rotation on time back in Amsterdam.)So who knows when he will return.  Oh my goodness.

Pole John.  And on top of that, we sadly leave Moshi on Saturday, so he will only be back for 6 days before we board a plane again.  And the week will be busy sana!

But, I can say that the week was quite interesting.  I have fallen in love with my Rangoon Creeper, which is trying to creep all around the house now, and makes things very beautiful.   My friend Jackie has been helping me identify things, so it was fun to go to her amazing house for book club this week.

beautiful bountiful orchid

Jackie's porch

View of Mawenzi peak from Jackie's porch

What can you say when a Masaai lady comes up to your porch and “Hodi’s” you (hello anyone home?) ?  Well, seems to me you say, “Karibu ndani” (welcome inside) and she walks up to the porch, sits down and proceeds to engage me in a (pathetic on my side) talk in Kiswahili about my family, my children and grandchildren.  As always there are similarities, she has 5 children as well as me, but she has 19 grandchildren!  (I did not ask how old her children were when they had their children!).  She also, just in case I was interested, had some Masaai jewelry that she had made, and reminded me that she would be exhibiting at the ISM Christmas show.  I had already remembered her from last year and we again had a lovely exchange.   And though her purpose might have been to sell me some jewelry, she was happy as well to sit and chat. She was quite pleased in my rooster, Charlie, and even when I told her that he was a fairly old rooster, she liked him just the same.  I tried to understand her name, but it was very Masaai, and I could not make heads or tails of it.

Masaai Momma on porch

Masaai Momma loving my porch

In addition to people, creatures love my porch.

PJ Lily

This moth is bigger than a hummingbird!  beautiful

Adorable "njuici

I think his name will be Ramses (of course I am not the owner!_)

My week continued with a meeting with a young man from ISM who is interested in attending Duke.  He is an amazing young man.  His father had 3 wives, and he has a lot of brothers and sisters as a consequence.  He had a very hard life, the father taking him as a small child to live with his father in another town, and then his father dying, and he being moved back to his mother’s, who was not able to care for him and was quite sick, being found by a local wonderful organization that has made a huge impact on his life. His mother has died as well, and he manages to see his brothers and sisters, but at the same time focuses somehow very hard on academics. If he makes it to Duke, I think he would be a super catch. But, sometimes you are at a loss as to know what to say to someone who has managed to show incredible resiliency in the face of terrible obstacles, and the best thing to do is to kick into a little “mother” motif, and a lot of, "What do you see yourself getting out of college". "What are your interests".  "Do you know what a Liberal Arts college means?"  He really wants to come to Duke, and I really think he could make it.  Gracious, talking to this young man was inspiring. (no picture to protect confidentiality)

It was perfect on the heels of this meeting, that we had a. the first rain in weeks, and b. our Tanzanian Regional Social Work Meeting.  Again, I took away from this meeting, the inspiration of our young people and the dedication they have to making a difference.  It is truly a delight to be a “woman of a certain age” and find young people so much smarter than I ever was, and so dedicated to their work.  Thank you TASWO for inspiring me again.

Dada Agnes Urassa, Outgoing chair of TASWO Kilimanjaro

Sara Urasa, MD Director of Hospital Services KCMC speaks

 The entire crowd agreed that Sara Urasa's talk on the need for Social Workers in Hospital Settings, and the importance of Teamwork was the highlight of the day.  The consensus from the attendees, More of these inspiring talks, please.

TASWO Kilimanjaro group

TASWO Executive Committww

Young people are our future

Lest I forget, my brother Jim is now two years older than I am.  He had his birthday on the 7^th!!!

Birthday boy in middle!  Jim Watson

And once again the week ended with a delightful day at St. Margaret’s Church for “Family Sunday” and a brilliant playlet organized by Clive and Bodil, and our wonderful pastor Tony playing the lead Pharisee.  I got a front row seat because I was playing recorder and spent most of my time trying not to laugh until I cried.  For this last Sunday at St. Margaret’s this trip, it was pure pleasure.

Finally, we had a lovely “hash” in Old Moshi.  This area is spectacular with views and many old old sites that make up the Old Moshitown.  You would never know that it was a town as it is spread out, and just dabs of things here and there.  The old church where our friend Greg’s grandmother is buried is just down the way, and the hash was located where the original Keys Hotel is located.  I couldn’t take pictures because it started pouring rain, and my little phone camera would have died immediately, but it was spectacular.! Here are some Throwback pictures from the church with some of the German Bells...to 2009!

Nikoli at the bells

Sylvia Wilson's grave (Greg's grandmother)

Greg Emmanuel at the church

The little German Church

One more week…..sigh

Kibo Peak Kilimanjaro from Jean's house on the compound

Kibo Peak Kili again from Jean's house across the street from me.!